diff --git a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/ActiveMQServerLogger.java b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/ActiveMQServerLogger.java
index 782fdd5f56..ced6ee4490 100644
--- a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/ActiveMQServerLogger.java
+++ b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/ActiveMQServerLogger.java
@@ -1687,6 +1687,11 @@ public interface ActiveMQServerLogger extends BasicLogger {
       format = Message.Format.MESSAGE_FORMAT)
    void noMatchingBindingsOnDLAWithAutoCreateDLAResources(SimpleString address, String message);
 
+   @LogMessage(level = Logger.Level.WARN)
+   @Message(id = 222290, value = "Failed to find cluster-connection when handling cluster-connect packet. Ignoring: {0}",
+      format = Message.Format.MESSAGE_FORMAT)
+   void failedToFindClusterConnection(String packet);
+
    @LogMessage(level = Logger.Level.ERROR)
    @Message(id = 224000, value = "Failure in initialisation", format = Message.Format.MESSAGE_FORMAT)
    void initializationError(@Cause Throwable e);
diff --git a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/cluster/ClusterController.java b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/cluster/ClusterController.java
index 26ff24dfc8..1805b0d0f0 100644
--- a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/cluster/ClusterController.java
+++ b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/server/cluster/ClusterController.java
@@ -359,6 +359,12 @@ public class ClusterController implements ActiveMQComponent {
                   clusterConnection = server.getClusterManager().getDefaultConnection(null);
                }
 
+               //if there is no default cluster connection then just ignore the packet with a log message
+               if (clusterConnection == null) {
+                  ActiveMQServerLogger.LOGGER.failedToFindClusterConnection(packet.toString());
+                  return;
+               }
+
                ClusterConnectMessage msg = (ClusterConnectMessage) packet;
 
                if (server.getConfiguration().isSecurityEnabled() && !clusterConnection.verify(msg.getClusterUser(), msg.getClusterPassword())) {